296 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



TENNESSEE. 



Prof. B. A, Morgan, Director Tennessee experiment 

 station. — ^Alfalfa has been known in Tennessee for many- 

 years, but not until the general failure of Red clover, due 

 to one or more species of CoUetofrichum, and the search 

 for substitutes for Red clover, were any serious efforts 

 made to grow alfalfa in this state. On alluvial land 

 along the Mississippi river in west Tennessee, in what is 

 known as the Central Basin section of middle Tennessee, 

 and on the richer lands of east Tennessee, alfalfa has 

 been grown very successfully, and each year larger areas 

 are being sown to this clover. Mr. L. Donaldson, of 

 Lake county, gives the following relative to the prepara- 

 tion of soil, etc., for alfalfa in the alluvial area of west 

 Tennessee : "The land is plowed deep with large mold- 

 board breaking plows in September or about the first of 

 March, It is then harrowed until thoroughly pulverized, 

 and either about October lo or April i, two gallons of 

 seed are sown, by machine or by hand. The harrow is 

 used for covering the seed. We have no more trouble with 

 the crop after seeding. The plants germinate and take 

 root rapidly. I have known alfalfa roots to reach a 

 length of two feet from the last of March to June 25. 

 We frequently cut the crop five times per year. George 

 Campbell Brown of Maury county states that he has sown 

 alfalfa in March using spring barley as nurse crop, and in 

 September with success. Land sown to alfalfa in 1901 

 yielded four cuttings per year in 1902, 1903, and 1904, 

 averaging from 16 to 18 tons per acre in the three years. 

 Mr, Brown uses soil for inoculating, and believes he has 

 gotten well-defined results from nitro-culture sent out by 



